The artist behind one of the region’s best-known pieces of art died this past weekend.

Joe Legge carved the massive wooden Viking that has been a legendary part of Lowndes High School for the past few decades.

Joe Legge had a heart attack Friday and passed away, said his sister, Trina Rutland. The Web site he shared with his son lists Joe Legge’s age as 65.

The son of Corriene A. Moore and the late Wayne L. Moore, Joe Legge was born in Decatur, Ill., before living in Valdosta. He served in the Vietnam War, with the Army’s 173rd Airborne, earning the Purple Heart.

Returning to Lowndes County after the war, Joe Legge pursued art, finding his niche in woodcarving. He would carve images in anything available, even launching a series of peanut-butter sculptures in the early 1990s.

By the mid-1990s, he moved from Valdosta, eventually opening an art studio with his son and fellow artist, Eric, in Dillard. In 2007, the art of Joe and Eric Legge was featured at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts.

Joe Legge’s carving of a gorilla remains in the arts center. His art was known throughout the nation and in other countries.

But it is the carving of a giant Viking, which generations of Lowndes High School students have seen in the school, that is Joe Legge’s legacy to the region. Joe Legge titled the sculpture “The Last Viking,” and carved its history into the shield. A portion reads: “The Last Viking was imprisoned by a seed of oak in the last period of the Roman Empire. Yes this viking has spent his time in the third largest oak tree the world over for 2,000 years! From an act of God through an artist’s hands — The Last Viking has finally been freed. It took over six months … 2,520 hours of consistent labor to carve this magnificent sculpture.”

A storm in May of 1977 caused the Viking Oak to nearly split in half and left a large piece of it lying on the ground. Joe Legge carved his famous Viking statue from that piece of the tree, which sat outside of the North St. Augustine Road entrance to Lowndes High School until it succumbed to time, weather and the environment in 2004.

The sculpture has several pieces that fit together and totaled weighs 3,000 pounds. Joe Legge carved “The Last Viking” in 1979.

Through the years, students have chipped away pieces of “The Last Viking,” and Joe Legge had mentioned the possibility of restoring it, Rutland said.

Corriene A. Moore, Joe Legge’s mother, still lives in the Valdosta area, along with his sister and brother-in-law, Trina and Pat Rutland, and brother and sister-in-law Jimmy and Shirley Moore, nieces and nephews. In addition to Eric, he has a son, Terry Legge, of Rabon.

A memorial service is scheduled for 4-6 p.m. Saturday at Union Church in Dillard.